Fatty deposits on liver and healthy

[Nae1]

Hello.  I am (and my doctor) having a hard time figuring out why I have fatty deposits on my liver and I am posting this question to see if anyone else has an idea.

I am a 29 yo female who is 5'2" and 120 pounds.  I have cholesterol within normal limits.  I am not diabetic so glucose levels are normal (fasting and not fasting).  I drink perhaps one to two alcoholic beverages a month.  I am training for a half marathon currently.  I exercise about 3-4 days a week (a little less right now because I injured my hip).  I am currently working on my diet as I do not get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables daily.  I do eat some sweets during the day (ex: a couple cookies and several jelly beans or a candy bar and a jolly rancher), but that is about all the junk food that I eat.  There is no family history of fatty deposits on the liver.

Finding the fatty deposits happened like this: I have been having issues sleeping for years (it is between not restful dreams, nightmares, unable to fall asleep, waking up in the middle of the night and not falling back to sleep, etc) and I went to my PCP to see if he could figure out the issue.  Blood work was ordered and something was abnormal so he sent me for a liver panel.  On the liver panel, I had an elevated ALT (51) and AST (34) enzymes .  This prompted my doctor to order an ultrasound because he thought it could be my gallbladder (which was operating at 53% about 4 years ago), that is when he found the fatty deposits on my liver and that my gallbladder was fine (in my previous ultrasound about 4 years ago, there were no fatty deposits).

So, here I am asking if anyone has any ideas of how to fix the situation or what could be causing it.  My doctor can only come up with that it is genetic and my grandparents had it and they just didn't know about it.  My goal is to figure out the cause, resolve the fatty deposits and make sure they don't come back again.

Thanks for your time and help.

[Nae1]

Dee,

Thank you very much.

I called and asked my doctor and he said yes, the term of what I have is, indeed, called Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.  He didn't not say if it was a particular kind, but said that is the term for what I have.

I am working on my diet now, so I hope adding more veggies and fruits would be helpful.  I also read that grapefruit is a liver healthy fruit, so I am going to start eating more of that too.  I have already started to take out extra sweets in my diet.

I have not even thought about a Gastroenterologist nor has my doctor suggested it.  I will look into that.

Thank you so much for your help.

[Dee1956]

Hello, I am not a doctor however is it possible that you have a type of Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?  Your enzymes are mildly elevated.  That could be caused by many things.  I was once told that even having a drink the night before testing could cause that.  Medications can cause it as well.
Sometimes tweaking our diets can help tremendously, i.e. more veggies, fruits, fiber water, etc   It sounds like you are active which is a good thing..
Are you able to be referred to a Gastroenterologist who specializes in the liver?  He/she may be able to offer more guidance.
Sometimes it can be hereditary, much like high cholesterol is in my family.
I am sure others will come on to comment.

I hope you can find the answers you seek.

Take Care
Dee

[Nae1]

I should say everytime I said 'on' the liver I mean 'in' the liver.  The fatty deposits are in my liver...I just can't figure out how to edit on the post.

Thanks.